Dissecting BSE Barriers: South Korea and Japan have domestic policies far more driven to close off their respective import markets in the event of BSE cases, yet they remain open. By contrast, Thailand and Indonesia are blocking imports. Given that Thailand ranks as the 65th largest market for U.S. beef (only $1.2 million), this has more to do with Bangkok being kept out of the TPP, and U.S. SPS barriers against some of Thailand's specialty fruits and other products. Indonesia was hardly a better market with $2 million in beef purchases last year. USTR Ron Kirk said last week in Singapore that the goal is to get all ASEAN countries, which includes Thailand, into a trading arrangement like TPP and Bangkok is adding pressure to make it happ...
Key Takeaways: President Trump announced $8 billion in additional agricultural assistance through the Harvest Fuel Relief Program, as USDA projects farm fuel and oil expenses will increase 28.8 percent in 2026. The package follows $12 billion in earlier relief, while government farm payments w...
Key Takeaways: A student group from the University of Chicago is protesting to bring back onion futures trading. Trading in onion futures was banned in 1958 following a spectacular bout of market manipulation that resulted in a corner of the physical market. The ban on onion futures led t...
Beef packer margins deteriorated to $141/head last week, down $55 from the prior week as fed cattle prices strengthened while the Choice cutout remained nearly unchanged. The cutout held near $373/cwt while fed cattle prices climbed $4/cwt to $224/cwt, narrowing processor profits. Despite the d...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.